The board holds regularly scheduled meetings on the third Monday of each month.

PEACE VALLEY CHARTER SCHOOL PUBLIC COMMENT POLICY

PURPOSE: To facilitate input from the broader school community, PVCS’s Governing Council meetings shall include public comment periods. The Council encourages public comment on school policies. The public comment period is intended to provide individuals with an uninterrupted opportunity to address the Council, and a time for the Council to actively listen to its community members. Unless the speaker’s topic is already on the agenda, the Council is unable to deliberate or take action on items raised during the public comment period. When appropriate, the Council will direct staff to follow-up with the speaker on the topic presented.

POLICY: Governing Council meetings shall include one public comment period at the beginning of each meeting, held after the call to order, for which there will be a sign-up sheet for those wishing to comment. The Council will not take public comment during Council meetings on: personnel issues or statements regarding the character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of an individual; or complaints concerning bidding or contracts. The public comment period should not be used by school employees to address issues that should instead be raised through existing formal communication channels, or established grievance or negotiations procedures with administration. At any meeting, the Council president may read speaker guidelines prior to receiving public comment. Speakers may provide printed material in support of their comments. If possible, any printed material should be provided to the Executive Director’s office in advance of the meeting in order to allow such material to be copied and distributed to the Council. The public comment notice, which is published on every agenda for all Council business meetings, will be approved by the Council. The current approved notice is as follows:

Note: Persons requesting to speak to the Governing Council in an open meeting need to sign up prior to the start of the open session of the Council meeting. Resolution of questions or responses to proposals should not be expected at this meeting; staff or others may be asked to research and/or prepare materials and solutions for a later time. Fifteen minutes total have been scheduled for persons requesting to speak. Three minutes will be allotted for individual requests and five minutes will be allotted for group requests. If more requests are received than the allotted time permits, those requests may be scheduled for the next Council business meeting.

F. Speech that defames individuals or interrupts the public business of the Council will not be tolerated and may be cause for removal from the meeting.

G. Individuals who disrupt Council meetings or the business of the Council by applause, cheering, jeering, or personal outbursts may be removed from the meeting by appropriate legal means.

RESPONSIBILITY: The Council President, or whichever officer is chairing the meeting, shall oversee application of this policy.

PROCEDURE: Sign-up for the public comment period is handled on a first-come basis. This will be available on the table at the front of the meeting room for 15 minutes ahead of each Council meeting start time. Patrons must provide their names, phone number, email address, and agenda item or topic they wish to discuss. The total time reserved for public comment is not to exceed fifteen minutes. Individual speakers will be given up to three minutes to address the Council, unless extended by the Council. If a group of people wish to collectively address the Council on the same subject, the group should select one or two speakers from the group to make their presentation to the Council. Groups are allotted up to five minutes to make their presentation to the Council.